Chapter 424
"Luffy, it seems there's been a slight change in the plan."
Roman's original plan was to gather so many powerful individuals, second only to the top tier, so there was no reason why they couldn't defeat Kaido. But then Kaido suddenly unleashed a desperate attack... While this might seem plausible and reasonable in this world, it was incredibly frustrating for Roman, who was the strategist.
"Hehehe, that's good."
Facing Kaido Luffy, covered in blood, tucked his Straw Hat into his hand and smiled confidently.
"We never expected to receive so much help from friends when we entered Wano Country. Roman, you've done a great job. Next—"
Snap!
Fist and palm meet,
"All we need to do is beat Kaido."
"Luffy is right,"
Armament Haki covered his body, Conqueror's Haki coating his fists, and Ace, covered in lacerations, stood beside Luffy. This time, he would never fall! He would never let Luffy suffer such grief again.
"However, I didn't know Kaido had this trick up his sleeve."
Yamato, still in her half-beast form Yamato, frowned slightly. The 'Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Okuchi no Makami Form' granted her the ability to control ice, along with the powerful physique and endurance of Zoan, making her much better off than Luffy and Ace.
"Let's forget about that for now, Nami— "
Splash splash~~
The towering All-Rounder Knight suddenly split in two, transforming into the 'Diamond Knight' and the 'Jewel Princess' —essentially upgraded versions of the 'White Knight' and the external armor Roman developed for Nami.
With the added Barrier Shield, it's safe to say that only Roman and Nami were unharmed by Kaido's 'rain of slashes'.
"Huh? Roman..."
Because of Nami's presence, Kaido abandoned his large-scale elemental attacks, focusing instead on melee combat and instant-cast abilities. This caused Nami to gradually become a support character. —While support is strong, there are more important things to do now:
"Nami, take the wounded away first."
Kaido can recklessly unleash devastating attacks without regard for the Beasts Pirates, but the Straw Hat crew are clearly not so ruthless. Kaido's terrifying attack, "Three Paths to the Burial of the Underworld," while targeting Roman, Luffy, Ace, Yamato, completely obliterated Onigashima! That single blow...
Countless samurai, Whitebeard Pirates, and even Beasts Pirates were caught in the blast and blown away. Now, Onigashima floats thousands of meters above Wano Country. While swordsmen are as common as dogs and bounties exceeding 100 million are plentiful on this battlefield, falling from such a height... and most of them already injured, would be crippled even if they didn't die!
Moreover, even those seriously wounded who weren't blown away—such as the Red Scabbards, the Bad People, and the injured officers—were no longer fit to remain on this dangerous battlefield.
"OK,"
Nami nodded. Now was not the time for sentimentality. She controlled her armored 'Jewel Princess,' adorned in a magnificent gown studded with jewels and flowers, Hiyori Kozuki's direction. She then quickly organized a rescue operation to aid her allies injured in the recent landslide. They assembled at the island's edge.
"Paper Dance - Boeing 757!"
With Nami borrowing Roman's power, giant 'paper airplanes' assembled and glided downwards, fully loaded with the wounded. Since there was no need to consider energy issues, they could transport thousands of people at once! Kaido, in the air, glanced at them and then focused his attention on the four people below.
"It doesn't matter how many of those ragtag soldiers survive, but you few—"
Before the welcome had even faded, Kaido had already set his sights on Roman, the enemy below with the most diverse range of skills!
First, get rid of this annoying brat—
Once the decision was made, with a downward lunge, the dragon had already transformed into a half-dragon.
The spiked club in his hand, imbued with a dark, domineering Haki and a vast killing intent, pierced through the wind and clouds! Like a dragon's roar or a beast's howl, it stirred up ten miles of wind and clouds in an instant, carrying thousands of lightning bolts and transforming them into a dark, ferocious giant dragon, fiercely and domineeringly devouring Roman.
"Instant annihilation!"
With a single strike, the dragon soars Four Seas, its power encompassing thousands of miles! This strike, in terms of strength, intent, and Haki, is undoubtedly the pinnacle of hand-to-hand combat in this vast ocean. Unless Roger, Whitebeard, Rocks, or other top-tier fighters were to be resurrected and stand here, no other powerful figure would choose to confront it head-on!
"Danger--"
The terrifying attack crashed down, and in an instant, Roman felt the pitch-black dragon in the sky grow larger and larger until it filled the entire world and became the only thing in existence! Kaido seemed to have disappeared, and Roman could no longer feel his presence. It seemed that he could only helplessly watch as the huge black dragon devoured and destroyed the island beneath it.
Roman clearly understood that this phenomenon meant that his Haki had been completely overwhelmed by the opponent, causing the opponent's Haki to impact his mind and body, creating hallucinations, just like those grunts who had faced the Straw Hat crew's top fighters.
This is outrageous!
The next second, a surge of anger welled up inside Roman. He had been so frightened that he was at a loss for what to do—
Am I, a dignified man, afraid of you?!
Armament Haki is released:
"Sky-Dominating Solo Defense - Seven-Layer Ring!"
This is 'Black Arm' Zephyr's unique technique. As Roman shuddered, his outward-released Armament Haki transformed into layers of vast, deep, and extremely flexible golden Haki, radiating outwards in an arc from Roman as the core!
The moment it made contact with Kaido's spiked club adorned with black Inazuma, the supple Haki immediately rippled like waves, calmly dissolving and neutralizing the opponent's devastating attack layer by layer.
The principle of using softness to overcome hardness sounds simple. But Kaido, like a dragon descending to earth, is imbued with Advanced Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki; how could it be easily neutralized?
Even with Roman's "Sky-Dominating Solo Defense," learned from Zephyr that Armament Haki to form seven layers of profound, resilient, and powerful shields—each layer comparable to a military fortress—he could only barely deflect one-third of the attack. The remaining majority of the attack remained relentlessly fierce and unstoppable! However:
"Momo - 80x Double Compression Haki Sword!"
Under immense pressure, Roman recklessly compressed his Haki into his longsword, then swung it to meet Kaido's spiked club—
Click click click click!!
In an instant, a deafening explosion, wilder and more violent than thunder and lightning, and a powerful and domineering shockwave, stronger than a tsunami or a landslide, erupted from between the longsword and the spiked club! Wherever it went, even space itself was shattered, cracking with countless jet-black lightning-like rays. Time itself became incredibly chaotic, with countless alternating speeds, slowdowns, pauses, and jumps appearing in a confined area. It was clear that the clash of their Haki had interfered with spacetime!
However, this scene lasted for less than 0.1 seconds. Although Roman refused to concede defeat in the clash of minds, he was certainly no match for Kaido in terms of physical strength. After all, the Paper-Paper Fruit's enhancement to physique was nowhere near that of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form. Therefore:
Call out--
"Roman!!"
Amidst Luffy's anxious cries as he Luffy to the rescue, 'Jewel Knight' Roman, trailing a trail of gray dust in the air, flew far away! He crashed into a pile of rubble hundreds of meters away, landing heavily like a human bomb, the sound of which could be heard from afar like a muffled thunderclap.
Damn, that's a monster...
Despite not having wasted a single moment in the past two years, and having been personally mentored by top-tier fighters like Garp, Sengoku, and even Akainu, Roman was confident that the gap between him and these top fighters wasn't so large anymore. The result:
Splash,
Standing up from the ruins, Roman frowned as he looked at his arms, exposed by the shattered armor. They felt numb, as if they weren't even 'hands' anymore. If it weren't for his reason telling Roman that most of the impact had been dispersed by the shattered diamond arm armor, he might have wondered if his hands had been knocked off.
"This is too outrageous... Is this the World's Strongest Creature?"
Life Return: Paper Arts: Body!
As Roman's hands trembled, layers of dark red 'stuff' fell off in a rustling sound. These were the muscles, bones, and skin that had been destroyed and killed by Kaido Haki his arms... Through the Life Return, these utterly useless tissues were expelled, and then, under the life force supplied by the 'blood vial,' Roman's arms rapidly regenerated and recovered—
He clenched his fists, and as sheets of paper studded with diamonds covered his arms, forming armor, Roman reached out and grabbed the longsword that had been knocked to the other side, which flew back on its own. Although it was just an ordinary weapon, Roman's Armament Haki, honed day and night, had long since reached the level of Great Grade Swords.
Call out--!
"Roman! I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Don't worry, I'm not that easy to fall down."
As Roman charged back and rejoined the battle, wielding his longsword once more, Kaido had suddenly become much stronger, had the four of them in dire straits, but:
"Right today, right here—"
The battered Yamato once again swung his slender spiked club.
I want to sever this ill-fated relationship with you!
"I will never lose!"
Facing Kaido's spiked club, Luffy directly covered his arms with Two-Color Haki to meet the attack head-on! All blunt weapons automatically have an 80% reduction in damage against the Rubber-Rubber Fruit, not to mention:
"Partners, brothers, friends... as long as you're all here, I will never fall!!"
"That's right!"
On the other side, Ace, covered in wounds, showed no signs of fatigue because:
"I don't want to fall down in front of my brother a second time, absolutely not!!"
"After this battle... cough cough cough,"
Roman almost uttered a famous death flag, couldn't think of anything cool to say for a moment, so he simply said:
"Beat him up!"
Despite their bodies being covered in wounds, the four young people, whose inner light shone ever brighter, surged forward and launched another attack against the World's Strongest Creature.
"Come on! Although this isn't the best battlefield, I'm satisfied with having you as my opponents!"
"It's been so long since I've felt this excited—"
Kaido, transformed into a giant blue dragon, circled in the air, revealing a ferocious 'smile' with his mouth full of sharp teeth.
"Humans just can't give up hope... no, they just can't give up!"
Whether it's these four little devils, or:
Own!
"Let the fighting continue—"
As the four figures leaped into the air, a violent and Haki impact swept across the entire Onigashima once again!